Motion capture is an approach to generating motion data that is based on tracking and recording the movement of real objects. One common application of motion capture is in animation where a realistic sequence of motion, e.g., by a human actor, can be captured and used to represent the motion of an animated object.
In some motion capture systems, an actor wears a black bodysuit. A number of white balls are attached to the suit at the actor's joints, e.g., shoulder, elbow, wrist. The actor then performs a sequence of movements which is digitally recorded by a number of cameras. The recorded data is then processed by a motion capture program.
The motion capture program recognizes the white balls as points. If multiple cameras record the same point in a respective frame and the locations of the cameras are known, the motion capture program can determine the 3D position of the point using triangulation. The motion capture system may determine 3D positions for all of the points in each of the frames.